Working For Dreams
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Shelby reached into her back pocket and took out the application form for Amber Beach University. Kendall looked it over quickly and smirked. "Business classes? I never thought I'd see the day you'd give up on dinosaurs."
_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Dino Charge. This story is fan-made._

 _Author's Note: A quick trip up to the cottage left me inspired to do a little writing. I've got a bonus scene for Dino Charge at the ready and plan on releasing it in a couple of days. Not sure how or when, so stay tuned! ;)_

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Shelby had made the proposal to her father and to her surprise, he loved the idea. All her life she remembered him pushing her family's ice-cream shop on her. Shelby had heard the story of how her great-grandfather has started the business from the ground up and for generations now the shop had been passed down from father to son. Mr. Watkins always expected Shelby to pick up where he would leave off and always pushed her to take business classes in school.

The ice-cream shop was not Shelby's dream. From a young age she loved dinosaurs. Her parents thought it was cute when she was little and as she got older, they insisted her desire to be a paleontologist was just a phase. _"It's not like Indiana Jones"_ they would tell her.

By high school, they were pushing the business classes hard. Shelby gave in, only because her school offered no courses related to paleontology aside from their regular science classes. She needed to fill her time table and shut her parents up and business classes did both. When it came time to look into universities, her parents pressed on once more about taking business so she could take over the shop. Shelby put her foot down and refused to attend any school for business.

So her parents cut her off. If she wanted to attend school for anything other than business, especially paleontology, she would have to pay for it herself. That was when Shelby took up the job at the museum. But now her father was on her case again because of a deal she made with him. Tyler's solution had been to talk to Kendall about her problem and hope she would be willing to help.

It had been a few days since their latest monster attack. Kendall was feeling a bit better, though was working especially hard. She had confirmed it for the Rangers after their defeated the sleep monster that Heckyl and Snide were one being. Everyone was shocked, but no one could say they didn't predict there was something threatening about Heckyl. Only Kendall had truly been surprised by the reveal. She had taken it hard the first couple of days, barely leaving her parents' home. Chase convinced her later to come to the museum and she agreed, but spent her days in the lab.

Shelby hesitated to talk with Kendall in that time. However, Cammy had come home from the hospital. Shelby thought maybe Kendall would be in a better mood and more open to her offer.

She made her way down to the lab and saw Kendall getting frustrated with her latest piece of technology. She had already explained it would help to boost the power of their chargers, rendering them more effective against all monsters. However, more power meant more problems. Shelby heard the tail end of a word she dared not repeat and thought maybe she had chosen a bad time. Kendall spotted her before she could leave and grumbled.

"What?"

"Oh, uh... I was just..." she pointed to the elevator. "I can come back."

"Don't," Kendall shook her head and Shelby thought at first there was some anger, but then she saw Kendall rubbing her forehead and realized she was probably just the distraction Kendall needed. She turned back around, rocking side to side nervously.

"Uh... how's Cammy?"

"The concussion's still pretty bad," Kendall said. "But she's at home and comfortable."

"Will she be coming by anytime soon?" Shelby asked. "I'm still waiting to give her that book I picked up a couple days ago."

"She's supposed to stay in bed at least for the week," Kendall shook her head. "She's sleeping most of the time. I doubt she'll be ready to do reading anytime soon."

"I can read to her."

"What do you want, Shelby?" Kendall asked, knowing the pink Ranger hadn't come all the way down to a lab for an update on Cammy. Shelby reached into her back pocket and took out the application form for Amber Beach University. Kendall looked it over quickly and smirked.

"Business classes? I never thought I'd see the day you'd give up on dinosaurs."

"I haven't," Shelby said. "It's my dad's idea. You see, we own ..."

Watkin's Ice-Cream," Kendall nodded. "Cammy and I stop there every Friday after school. Your dad's a sweet guy."

"You know about that?"

"I hired you," Kendall said. "You didn't think I'd skip the background check when I have a secret lab underneath the museum?"

"I guess that makes sense," Shelby muttered. "Then you might know that dad plans on having me take over when he retires."

"Does he realize you're a bad waitress?" Kendall asked and for once Shelby nodded her head.

"I know! I've told him that and he won't listen. Ice-cream is different, apparently."

"We serve ice-cream," Kendall muttered. "You suck at that too."

"Thank you," Shelby agreed. It was weird to accept what was clearly an insulting comment as a compliment, but when it meant Kendall agreed with her, Shelby would take it. "I'm much better with dinosaurs and fossils."

"Amber Beach has a great paleontology program. You can minor..."

"Dad won't let me minor in anything that won't sell ice-cream," Shelby said. "But there is one thing he'll agree to."

"Does this involve me?"

"You're a business woman, right?"

"By default, I guess," Kendall nodded. "It was trial by fire getting the museum up and running but I learned my way."

"Dad agreed if you show me the business side of the museum and teach me what it is you do to keep this place up and running and making profits, I wouldn't have to go to school."

Kendall sighed and set down the application on her work station as she looked to Shelby. "You want a cop out?"

"I want to learn. Teach me the boring stuff, Ms. Morgan. Taxes, salaries, profit margins and... you know, all that other boring paperwork stuff you have to do. I want to learn it all."

"What's the catch here?" Kendall asked. "Shelby, if you want to learn about business, go to..."

"I want to learn more about paleontology too," Shelby smiled. "Not just about where to dig for bones and how to identify them, but the real stuff. I want to know what it all means. I'll do a double major here, just for a year. Hopefully by then I can prove to my dad the family business isn't for me and he lets me do what I want."

"You want the boring stuff?"

"I do."

"The hours of reading? The months of analysis? Theories that don't pan out. Facts that become false over the smallest of new findings?"

"I want to work. I want to really work," Shelby nodded her head. "No more asking to go on digs. I want to help you with all the behind the scenes stuff."

"Deal," Kendall nodded her head and walked over to the bookshelf at the back of her lab. She grabbed several books and brought them over to Shelby. "You can start here."

"Now?"

"There's a lot to learn," Kendall said. "You don't just become a dinosaur expert overnight. I'll give you a week to study all this, then you'll lead a tour group under my supervision. It's the Amber Beach High School AP science class. You'll get a lot of tough questions and all your answers will be challenged. Do well and there might be a dig in your future."

"Seriously?" Shelby asked, taking the books. "Just... just like that?"

"You do the _'boring'_ stuff, and balance the business side of the cafe and I'll make sure when you leave here, you'll be the top in all your paleontology lectures."

"You'll set me up?"

"You'll set yourself up," Kendall nodded. "I'll just give you the little push you need here and there. Start with those, you have a week."

"Wait. What about my shift?"

"I never said this would be easy," Kendall said, chuckling slightly to herself while Shelby struggled to walk with the books to the elevator. When the doors shut, Kendall breathed out a happy, relieved sigh. She had always seen potential in Shelby, but it had driven her mad that the pink Ranger was constantly looking for handouts. Kendall put a lot of hard work into her job. She had studied hard, worked late nights and was face with disappointment after disappointment in order to get to where she was now.

Shelby, just like anyone with a dream, thought that following her passion would be fun and exciting. The truth was it was difficult and sometimes even painful. Kendall had always wanted to teach her that her dream would require real effort and more time spent on the _boring_ tasks than anything fun. She knew eventually Shelby would realize that. It had just taken much longer than she expected. The pink Ranger was quite stubborn.

In any case, business classes were no place for her. Kendall couldn't imagine Shelby sitting through the long lectures and tackling course work that in no way spoke to her interests. Shelby had potential for paleontology. It wasn't fair of her father or anyone to ask that she try and redirect all that energy into something she hated.

"It's about time," she said to herself as she got back to work on her latest piece of equipment.


End file.
